I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou's powerful 1969 memoir follows a young Black girl from age 3 to 16 as she transforms from a victim of racism and trauma into a self-possessed mother, finding refuge in literature.
When Breath Becomes Air
A neurosurgeon at 36 faces terminal lung cancer and must confront what makes life worth living. A profound memoir on mortality, meaning, and the doctor who became the patient.
The Glass Castle: A Memoir
A raw, unforgettable story of resilience and redemption. Four siblings raised by brilliant but alcoholic parents learn to survive poverty and neglect, then escape to build new lives.
Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
Pulitzer Prize winner chronicles a childhood of crushing poverty, alcoholism, and hunger in 1930s Limerick, Ireland told with stunning humor and heartbreaking honesty.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Trevor Noah's hilarious and heartbreaking memoir about growing up mixed race in apartheid South Africa, where his very existence was illegal and his mother's fierce love shaped everything.
Educated
A young woman raised by survivalists in rural Idaho enters her first classroom at 17 and journeys from isolation to earning a PhD at Cambridge University.
Man's Search for Meaning
A psychiatrist's harrowing account of surviving Nazi concentration camps reveals how finding purpose in suffering can sustain the human spirit in humanity's darkest hours.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Her cells revolutionized medicine without her consent. Now her family's story reveals the human cost of scientific progress and who owns our bodies.
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Olympic runner Louis Zamperini survives a plane crash, 47 days adrift at sea, and brutal years in Japanese POW camps. A harrowing true story of endurance, hope, and spiritual transformation.